Cinema, space museum will show livestream of Artemis I launch

Space buffs can witness NASA's Artemis I launch in several spots across the Netherlands on Monday. The event will also be livestreamed by space organizations NASA and ESA.

The Omniversum in The Hague will show the launch in its large cinema. The livestream will be projected on the 840-square-meter wall of the building's dome.

Noordwijk space museum Space Expo will also host a themed afternoon about the flight to the moon on Monday, called "MOONday." Experts from the ESA, the Dutch space organization NSO and space company Airbus Nederland will speak about their contribution to the mission –– for example, Airbus designed and built the solar panels for the spacecraft in Leiden. The company also provides the electricity on board.

"When I was about 7 years old and lived in Deurne, my parents got me out of bed for the first moon landing. I saw that and said, 'I want to do that someday,'" Rob van Hassel, who led the development of the Dutch solar panels at Airbus, told the ANP. "My parents thought I wanted to be an astronaut...[but] I couldn't take my eyes off the lunar lander and the gold foil. I can't imagine that people will go back to the moon partly thanks to our solar panels."

The United States, with help from Europe and Canada, has been working on the Orion spacecraft for years. It is expected to take people to the moon and back in a few years' time, for the first time since 1972. An unmanned flight will start on Monday to test all the systems.

The launch is planned somewhere between 2:33 p.m. and 4:33 p.m. Dutch time. If it doesn't work out, there are a few options to leave at the beginning of September. After launch, the capsule will fly to the moon and orbit around it a few times. Then it must return to Earth. About six weeks after take-off, the vessel should plunge safely into the Pacific Ocean in a controlled manner.